The fatal house fire that took the lives of three young children on Glendale Road on March 5 has been officially ruled an accident, according to Carroll County Sheriff J.B. Gardner.

The investigation — which involved the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, the Virginia State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Virginia State Fire Marshal’s office — has determined the fire was the result of a child playing with a cigarette lighter and a candle, according to the report released on March 13. The fire started in the kitchen area.

HILLSVILLE ― When there is an emergency, people find comfort in the fact that help is only a phone call away. But what if that phone call preceded a 45-minute ― or longer ― wait before help finally arrived?

Though Altavista and Galax’s basketball teams were rivals in a semi-final game for the state high school championship on Monday, the communities they represent proved anything but antagonistic: Altavista came together in approximately 24 hours to raise $6,000 in donations for the Delp family of Carroll County.

The Delp family lost their home and three of their four young children in a March 5 house fire on Glendale Road, just outside Galax city limits.

INDEPENDENCE —Grayson County’s coyote killing program is operating in the red, as all of the second $5,000 bounty appropriation that the Grayson County Board of Supervisors approved earlier this year has now been paid out to hunters.

Under the program, Grayson residents turning in dead coyotes from the county receive a $40 bounty payment per carcass.

HILLSVILLE — Several challenges have already been predicted in the race to fill 11 positions in Carroll County government this year.

May 18 marks the closing of the books for both the Republican and Democratic primary elections, which are scheduled for June 9. While potential candidates aren’t running at break-neck speed to file the paperwork, General Registrar Kim Cloud says more applications are being accepted every day.

In the wake of the Delp family tragedy last week, the community has continued to work through processing its grief and helping the family members through a difficult time.

Trenton and Amanda Delp lost three of their four children, their home and all they owned in a house fire on March 5. Firefighters and police officers tried desperately to reach the three children trapped inside the Glendale Road home.

HILLSVILLE — Fire continued to plague the Twin Counties last week, when a structure fire destroyed an outbuilding in Hillsville containing most of the restored antique farming equipment that were used during the Shockley’s Old Timey Days event.

While the building and all of its’ contents were described as a total loss, Mark Shockley is counting his blessings that only items were lost in the fire.